How researchers finally identified the enslaved Black boy in the 1748 painting by Joshua Reynolds

 by Mildred Europa Taylor Face2FaceAfrica.com

Researchers and historians have for more than a century wondered about the identity and life of an enslaved Black child featured in an 18th-century portrait of painter Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The enslaved boy, known only as “Jersey”, was Reynolds’ earliest depiction of a person of color, according to historians, but not much was known about Jersey or whether he was even real.

Thanks to a new research project that includes information from British government archives, original letters, ship captains’ logs and documents about crew members, the young boy’s story is beginning to emerge, CNN reported.

The painting, completed around 1748, shows the boy wearing a navy-blue coat, an embroidered white turban with pearl earrings, and a red waistcoat, looking up at his “master”, a Royal Navy lieutenant, Paul Henry Ourry, who eventually became a captain.

To make their paintings more attractive or interesting, 18th-century artists often included a person of color in portraits of wealthy white sitters. Such persons of color are sometimes imaginary and are only added to the finished artwork to draw attention to the high status of the actual subject.

Reynolds’ 1748 painting was hung in the saloon at Saltram, a National Trust Georgian mansion, in Plympton, Devon, with the title: Lieutenant, later Captain, Paul Henry Ourry, MP (1719-1783) with an enslaved child known as “Jersey” (dates unknown), according to the Guardian.

Historians knew much about Ourry but had always raised questions about the child. Following the research project carried out by the National Trust, the National Gallery in London, and Royal Museums Greenwich, the boy’s story can now be told. The research project was launched as part of moves to spotlight people whose stories are unknown or ignored.

Mark Brayshay, a volunteer researcher at Saltram, and Katherine Gazzard, a curator at Royal Museums Greenwich, discovered the boy’s full name recorded as “Boston Jersey” in a crew record book. They believe that he was given the surname Jersey because Ourry was born in the Channel Islands. His first name could also likely be because he once lived in Boston, Massachusetts, the researchers said.

They also found that Jersey was baptized as George Walker on July 30, 1752, probably in a chapel in Westminster. He was possibly known as George Walker in his early life, the researchers believe.

The baptismal certificate states: “A Certain Black Boy Called Boston Jersey Baptised by the name of George Walker aged fifteen.” This largely means that he was around 11 when he was painted by Reynolds.

Interestingly, a muster in 1751 describes Jersey as being a member of the crew rather than a servant of Ourry.

“Later, his name appears as one of 10 crew members due for discharge ‘per paybook’. This could imply that Jersey was in receipt of Royal Navy pay, but it is also possible that the sums owing actually went to Ourry,” Brayshay said, according to the Guardian.

In the summer of 1753, Jersey was discharged from another ship and subsequently disappeared from the records, researchers found. Some believe that he was sold to someone else. It could also be that he earned his freedom and joined another vessel, the researchers believe.

“This project asks us to look more closely at a familiar past, revealing a life long obscured and reminding us that history is shaped as much by those rendered invisible as by those remembered,” historian and National Trust ambassador David Olusoga said.

“To tell Jersey’s story is to confront the silences within our history, and to recognise the individuals whose lives have too often been hidden from view.”

The research project also undertook a technical examination of Reynolds’ portrait to gather more details about his work. Reynolds’ initial idea included having a natural setting or background for the painting, as he sketched leafy branches before replacing them with a plain brown background.

Shearman said that “it was absolutely amazing” to see the changes Reynolds made to the painting. The painter “made quite a lot of changes around where the two figures meet” in the portrait, and Jersey was “carrying a piece of red cloth,” she said, as reported by CNN.

Through the technical examination, the researchers, in all, hoped to understand the painting through a more contemporary lens.

“We’ve been able to see Jersey more clearly – through what we now know of his life and naval career – but also through how he was portrayed on the canvas. In time we may discover more, but Boston Jersey is at last given recognition as a person and shown as more than just a trope,” Shearman said, according to the Guardian.

The artwork has been on display in Saltram’s Saloon since Saturday, May 9. It will hang until November 1, alongside its companion portrait, “Captain the Honourable George Edgcumbe.”

Shearman said that Ourry and Captain Edgcumbe were both from Plymouth, with Jersey serving on the same ship with Ourry and Edgcumbe.